This past weekend Renee and I went on our annual camping trip with our college friends Joel and Julie Phillips. The follow is my guide to (not) camping
1. Do not leave early and do not trust driving times when crossing time zones
Renee and I left a solid 1/2 hour after planned. The drive also took us 6 when original checks had stated only 5.
2. Do not forget to check that all equipment is properly secured.
We took our bikes with us on this trip. I thought the carrier was properly and securely attached to the car. Two dents and some lost paint later, I discovered I was wrong. The arms that held the bikes were not sufficient to hold the weight of two bikes.
3. When possible, do not buy damp or green firewood.
After taking some time to find firewood, Joel had trouble actually getting it to burn. Fortunately our neighbors were nice enough to give us some tiki oil and dry wood.
4. Avoid late night encounters with park rangers.
No, we were not drunk. Apparently you are only allowed ONE camping unit per site in Iowa. This meant that we either had to cram into one tent or move one tent in the dark. We collapsed one tent and cleared out the other using deflated air mattresses as a suedo carpet.
5. Do not have pressure issues with your gas camping stove.
Saturday morning we spent a good 30 minutes trying to keep a flame going on the Coleman camping stove before making a fire and cooking over that. Breakfast did turn out to be pretty good.
6. Avoid striking sharp object while riding bikes
On our way to another park for some hiking, Julie popped a tire. I then rode back to camp to call Joel (drove ahead w/ lunch). He had no reception so I rode 6 miles to the park and got him. We did have a nice lunch and then drove further into the park for a great hike.
7. Do not meet up with foul weather.
As we were heading back from the hike Joel and Renee heard thunder. Julie and I had stopped in the car at the front of the park to see how Joel and Renee were doing. Julie and I hurried back to camp in order to drop off one bike and put stuff safely away before the storm hit. The storm hit before we made it. Visibility was no more than 75 feet. We got soaked getting the one bike off and moving stuff. The storm passed quickly but the sheriff and rangers were warning us that there was a tornado warning and sirens were going off in Muscatine (10 minutes south of us).
As a result of the foul weather, we were flooded out of our campsite. Renee and I needed a new bike carrier before we could properly pack up, so we went to Muscatine looking for one. No luck. After a phone call, it was off to Davenport (40 minutes away) to get one at Dunham's. We did manage to have the site fairly well packed up before I left. While I was gone Renee, Joel and Julie got a room at the Holiday Inn and moved everything there. Management was nice enough to allow us to have 2 bikes in the room. I got back just after the moving was finished. We ordered pizza and then enjoyed the hot tub. Sunday morning we were very grateful for the room as it was raining again.
We left around 1 ET with a new bike rack that was properly secured and held the bikes quite nicely. Once home we threw the smaller wet stuff into our washer and headed over to my parent to wash the sleeping bags and lay the large stuff (tent, tarp, air mattress) out to dry.
It was a fun weekend, but one I would never want to repeat.
